All of My Thoughts and Articles
Tell the Kind Truth
It can be hard to give negative feedback effectively. I think part of the difficulty has to do with our discomfort with difficult feelings and emotions. We don’t like feeling uncomfortable, and we don’t like ...
The Power of One Main Point
When you're giving a talk or presentation, it can be helpful to focus on one main point. What Do You Remember? Think back to the last few sermons or talks you listened to. Do you ...
Why I Don’t Argue About Religion or Theology
As much as possible, I try not to argue about religion or theology. It’s not that I don’t think it’s important. On the contrary, I think it’s critical to think about and question what we ...
Do. What You Can… And Let That Be Enough
The other day, I was feeling frustrated. I was dealing with an injury, and it wasn’t progressing as quickly as I wanted it to. I was going to physical therapy, and doing my exercises, but ...
Give a Gift of Grace
A few years ago, a colleague of mine sent me an email. He wanted to organize a research project on grace. I thought it was a great idea. Even though I think grace is really ...
How to Teach Something: 3 Tips
When I was in graduate school, I was the teaching assistant for the graduate statistics course. I led a lab where I tried to help the students understand and make sense of what was taught ...
How to Save Time on Email: Write Longer Emails
Most of us spend a lot of time on email. At many of our workplaces, email is the primary mode of communication. We are on email constantly. Although extremely convenient, email can be challenging to ...
Run, Forrest, Run: How the Enneagram Helps Us Get Unstuck
One of my favorite movie scenes happens near the beginning of Forrest Gump. The young Forrest has braces on his legs and has trouble walking. At one point, some bullies knock Forrest to the ground. ...
Sometimes Jesus Calms Us Before He Calms the Storm
There’s this interesting story in the Bible where Jesus calms a storm. Here’s what happened: Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed ...
